Plasma Ignition in a 30-mm Cannon

Plasma ignition of conventional propelling charges has been studied in a 30-mm cannon using plasma generated in a capillary external to the charge. It is shown that the interaction distance for strong response from a propellant is limited even for this caliber, which may have implications for pressure wave formation during ignition. The use of confinement of a portion of the charge for enhanced ignition is shown to result in the most prompt ignition. However, with JA2 propellant, direct action of the plasma on the charge produces good results. The effect of plasma pulse length is explored; observations that enhanced radiation from high peak power that increases propellant response to plasma are discussed. A limited comparison of the response of JA2 and M30 propellants has been made